It's clear, after the city of Longmont's second community conversation regarding homelessness, that people have no shortage of ideas for addressing the homelessness crisis. But, amid funding cuts at the state and federal level what service providers say they need most is money.

"There isn't a lot of money out there for this," said Edwina Salazar, executive director of Our Center, a homeless outreach center based in Longmont. "A lot of community members are complaining about the homeless that are on the streets, but it's going to take their agreement to create more funds to address the issue. A lot of the funding that's been cut over the years is from the federal level and to come up with other solutions is really difficult. I know there are some jurisdictions on the West Coast that are creating new taxes, but it's going take to buy in from the whole community."

While ideas — such as finding foster families or amending zoning to allow for denser housing — will help, the key need is for individuals and families earning less than 50 percent of the area median income: $38,050 for an individual all the way up to $54,300 for a family of four .

Study after study has shown the most effective solution for this segment of the community is a program known as supportive housing.

Providing housing for 30 percent of a tenant's income, no matter how low that might be, which includes in-house counseling, job training and access to community resources, supportive housing allows those in need the stability to rebuild their lives and become self-sufficient members of the community again.

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"It's not just about housing," said Tim Rakow, the executive director of the Inn Between, the sole supportive housing organization in Longmont. "It's vital that there is a supportive element to that to sustain both housing and build capacity for individuals and families that once housed, can finally afford to concentrate on that and lead them to self-sufficiency."

Using this formula The Inn Between found that roughly 88 percent of its former tenants found stable housing somewhere in Boulder County after having an opportunity to live in supportive housing.

Furthermore, according to Rakow, though the up-front costs of building supportive housing are high, the overall cost is nearly $10,000 a year less than more traditional routes of serving the homeless.

However, even though supportive housing projects have shown to be more cost-effective than other solution to homelessness, it requires a much larger investment up-front and has therefore been slow to take hold in Boulder County — especially in terms of permanent supportive housing for those with severe mental disabilities.

Currently, there are 72 units available for temporary supportive housing through Inn Between, which also provides eight units of permanent supportive housing for those with severe disabilities that prevent them from holding down jobs. Another six permanent supportive housing units are expected to be completed next year at Inn Between's Micah Project.

In order to secure the necessary funding for the project, however, several groups had to come together to make rather remarkable donations. First Congregational United Church of Christ Longmont transferred approximately 10,000 square feet of church land, Faith Lutheran Community Church provided monetary support for the project through donations from its endowment fund for the last two years, Krische Construction and Radian I Placematters both offered to work pro-bono, Boulder County provided $150,000 of Worthy Cause Tax Funds and the Longmont Housing Development Corp. committed to matching $60,000 in individual donations made before Dec. 15.

With a need of 2,500 units for those making less than 50 percent of the area median income , the six units at the Micah Project are a drop in the bucket, and with so little available land it appears unlikely a major development will be pursued anytime soon. But, it's a start, Salazar said.

"I think it's going to have to be done incrementally through several small projects," she said, "but the Micah Project is proof that it can be done and with several small projects we can put a dent in at least the housing for folk that's are particularly difficult to house."

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